MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

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2013 Final Standings

1.  Calvin 13-1
2.  Hope 12-2

Hope at Olivet  http://miaa.org/mbb/stats/1213/0119olho.htm

Gardner, Benson and Eidson were Freshmen, Wittenbach a Sophomore on that Hope team.

[gobrits]

Stuive did make a big difference. Albion played a great game, but facing a team as good as Hope, with a frontline  of 6-8, 6-7, 6-6, the Britons can't afford many mistakes.

Jaylen Fordham was terrific, but his technical really hurt. He's a first-year player, and I hope he sees more playing time and learns from his mistake. There were two air-balled 3 attempts in the first half – one on a fast break – where Albion shooters passed up open teammates under the basket. Don't pass up the easy ones, Brits.

And, as always, box out, box out, box out. It will be an exciting MIAA season if the teams play as well as they did last night.

[wiz]

Jared Holmquist is simply a tremendous player. I think Calvin actually did quite a nice job defending him, yet he ended up with 26 points. According to the box score play-by-play data he was 10-13 on his two-point jump shots. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to a great player knocking down his shots.

Jared is clearly the leading league MVP candidate at this point.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Mitch seems to be settling on an 8-man rotation, with Blackledge getting fewer minutes. Also, Otto went to the bench with 16:02 left and never reentered the game. I don't know what that's all about.

Without seeing the game I'm guessing Otto's defense (or lack thereof) may have been a factor. Any guesses on why Blackledge is playing fewer minutes?

The questions about who is playing and why are simply a coaching decision. Coach Mitchell is simply adjusting who plays when and how much based on the game in question. Adjusting time on the floor based on match ups, who is playing well that game, etc. With the quality of players on the bench he can certainly mix and match to get the best.  Stuive's defense this year has been outstanding (you could make a strong case that his D lead to both OT wins and sealed the deal last night). 

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Greg Roy who played sparingly as a Fr. last year at Adrian has walked-on to the Michigan State basketball team, played out the final few seconds tonight.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg Roy who played sparingly as a Fr. last year at Adrian has walked-on to the Michigan State basketball team, played out the final few seconds tonight.

Not quite a Duncan Robinson story, but good on him!  It would be cool to see him actually make the rotation instead of just garbage time.

[sac]

Greg Roy who played sparingly as a Fr. last year at Adrian has walked-on to the Michigan State basketball team, played out the final few seconds tonight.

Our bud Graham Couch dug a little deeper:
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/sports/columnists/graham-couch/2016/01/08/couch-meet-greg-roy-who-now-knows-hes-msus-basketball-team/78495950/

[KnightSlappy]

Albion's live stream is embedded in the live stats page:

http://www.miaa.org/sports/mbkb/2015-16/boxscores/20160109_kqyb.xml

Good on you, Brits.

[FyteOnne]

Albion's live stream is embedded in the live stats page:

http://www.miaa.org/sports/mbkb/2015-16/boxscores/20160109_kqyb.xml

Good on you, Brits.

It looks like there are cameras ready upstairs in Kresge.  It might not start until the game does.  Try this link:

http://ustream.tv/channel/albionsports

Edit: Replying clumsily on my phone, I didn't realize I was too late to help.  Glad it was available.

[KnightSlappy]

Albion over Calvin 30-29 at the half. The Brits shot 50% (8-16) from the arc including a banked-in three a tick or two before the buzzer.

[KnightSlappy]

Welp, Calvin scores only 4 points in the final 9 minutes and loses 65-60. Not a great finish after holding a 9-point lead at the 10 minute mark.

[Gregory Sager]

Albion 65
Calvin 60

On the webcast it appeared that Kresge had all of the liveliness of a funeral parlor. Nobody standing, nobody jumping up and down in the stands, nothing. You'd think that the Britons beat Calvin every day.

[oldknight]

Albion 65
Calvin 60

On the webcast it appeared that Kresge had all of the liveliness of a funeral parlor. Nobody standing, nobody jumping up and down in the stands, nothing. You'd think that the Britons beat Calvin every day.

Like a drum.

As exhilarating as the Trine win was, this loss was just as deflating. It would have been a big road win but the Knights lost a game they should have won. Only 6 points in the last 10:40 hurts badly but I thought they lost it just as much on the boards as the Brits were simply tougher down the stretch. Seemed like the ball was on Albion's half of the floor 75% of the time the last 10 minutes as Calvin couldn't collar critical rebounds, though Albion's shooting 14-30 from the arc is always a recipe for success. The home team did a very nice job on Daley (3-14) and he can expect to see lots of attention throughout the conference season. Calvin was mostly good in transtition (25 points off turnovers vs 4 for Albion) but didn't finish well on several others and seemed to overpass the ball on a couple of occasions. It wasn't quite enough to pull off a win. Also don't know how you can allow Dakota Kazen to take 6 leisurely step-in threes--of which he made five. Maybe it's a slight exaggeration but that's how the oldknight memory goes now and I'm sticking with my storyline.

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Albion 65
Calvin 60

On the webcast it appeared that Kresge had all of the liveliness of a funeral parlor. Nobody standing, nobody jumping up and down in the stands, nothing. You'd think that the Britons beat Calvin every day.

Albion's student aren't back until the 18th or something like that.  They'll have all of 5 home games this year with students on campus.

[sac]

Hope 79  Olivet  65

Hope really dominated Olivet much more than this final score suggests.  Hope was ahead 43-21 at the half but it was 5:16 left in the 1st half before the Comets reached double digits and for a brief moment Hope led by 29.  Hope was able to start resting guys with 5 min. left in the first half and Olivet went on a 11-2 run just to close with 22.  This was probably as fine a 15 minutes of basketball as Hope has played on both ends of the floor in quite some time.

Very important to mention Olivet's leading scorer and do everything dude Lee Gardner sat this one out.  Gardner just makes Olivet so much more cohesive, with him they aren't bad at all, without him I think they'll really struggle to win a game in this league.  This is the 4th time I've watched Olivet in person, 2 with him (Carthage, Grace Bible) and 2 without (Capital, Hope).  With Gardner in the game Olivet was with Carthage all the way and beat Grace Bible.  Without him both the Capital and Hope games looked very similar.

Not much to say about the 2nd half, Hope lost it edge a little but still pushed the lead back to 26 or 28 a couple times before shutting things down and going to the bench.  Hope went 1-14 from 3 in the second half, hit a couple more of those and the lead never dips below 20. 


Hope:  Gardner 16, Hawkins 16, Eidson 11
Olivet:  Haas 16, Ewing 10, Brocker 10